A German tabloid newspaper, Bild has today reported that the release date of the 3DS is closer than we believed, with the handheld console being released on 11th November in Japan at first with a European release following in Spring. More news about the 3DS was set to be announced this week (starting 27th September) in a Nintendo press conference in Japan, but it appears that Bild has leaked one of the most highly anticipated announcements of the year. Nintendo had previously announced that the handheld console would be released before the end of the fiscal year ending, which ends in March 2011, but no real confirmation has been given.
If the rumour is true, then it only gives Nintendo just over a month to push the 3DS commercially, which begs the question, is it enough time to push such a revolutionary product? It was first announced in E3 2010 in June, but not much else has been said about it since. Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Playstation Move have had over a year's time to promote itself, but with Nintendo's success in pushing the Wii and the DS commercially, a month could be plenty of time for Nintendo to promote the 3DS.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Dead Space review
There have been many different titles over the years in the survival horror genre, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark to name a few. But in 2008, EA released a new IP for the genre, Dead Space.Dead Space is a third person "over the shoulder" shooter which places the player in the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent aboard an interstellar mining ship, USG Ishimura to investigate events which have caused the ship to send out a distress signal. However Clarke also has a personal stake in this, as he also receives a crypted message from Nicole Brennan, a medical specialist aboard the Ishimura and his girlfriend. He is joined by Kendra Daniels a technologist sent to fix the Ishimura's communication system and senior security officer Zach Hammond. What seems to be a relatively simple journey turns into a nightmare for the three characters.
Shortly after you arrive on the ship, you are separated from the other two members of the team by Necromorphs. Necromorphs are the enemies in the game, previously being crew members aboard the Ishimura. As you progress further in the game, different types of Necromorphs will start to appear, needing different strategies to kill them off. But Dead Space is not like your normal third person shooter, but instead uses the idea of limb dismemberment. The guns in the game use laser aiming which allows you to strategically aim at certain limbs to stop the Necromorphs from running towards you and clawing you to death. The Necromorphs usually attack in groups and are well hidden in many different areas, including ventilation systems which makes players check around every corner before going round it. Although melee attacks do not have the same effect. They seem to be a last resort for players when they run out of ammo for all their guns, and do not do much damage towards the Necromorphs. There are also two utilities which will help players progress through the game, Kinesis, which gives you the ability to move objects and Stasis, which can be recharged through recharging points and booster packs, enables you to slow down fast moving objects, like malfunctioning doors and fast moving Necromorphs.
To assist Isaac with his adventure, there are stores scattered around the ship which enables players to purchase new weapons, med packs, extra ammo and suit upgrades using credits which are dropped by enemies throughout the game. The store also enables Isaac to store items which he is unable to hold in his inventory, inventory space is limited but increases with every upgrade to his suit.
You can also purchase power nodes which are used to upgrade weapons at various workbenches throughout the game, with each node used to link each branch of the circuit board. The nodes can not only upgrade weapons but also upgrade Kinesis and Stasis as well as the health bar.
Throughout the game, you will also encounter many areas which are deprived of gravity, and therefore enables Isaac to perform zero-gravity jumps to any surface. This can be used to strategically kill Necromorphs from different angles, but in turn can have the same effect vice-versa. But primarily zero-gravity is used to solve different problems, with the addition of the limited air supplies in certain areas outside of the ship, presents players with unique obstacles.
But what separates Dead Space from the other survival horror games is the environment which the game is set in. EA have done a great job in creating an atmosphere aboard the Ishimura which not only adds tension to the game but creates a sense of isolation with great visuals and sounds, causing players to constantly worry about where the next attack from the Necromorphs will come from and frantically pushing the shoot button. The engaging story and the lack of knowledge of events aboard Ishimura only adds to the tense atmosphere whilst you try to piece bits together through various audio and text logs left behind by crew members.
This increased fear factor makes the Dead Space experience a refreshing take on survival horror with recent releases like Resident Evil 4 and Alone in the Dark becoming more action focused and moving away from the horror aspect.With its immersive story and excellent visuals this makes Dead Space a must buy game for all gamers.
Shortly after you arrive on the ship, you are separated from the other two members of the team by Necromorphs. Necromorphs are the enemies in the game, previously being crew members aboard the Ishimura. As you progress further in the game, different types of Necromorphs will start to appear, needing different strategies to kill them off. But Dead Space is not like your normal third person shooter, but instead uses the idea of limb dismemberment. The guns in the game use laser aiming which allows you to strategically aim at certain limbs to stop the Necromorphs from running towards you and clawing you to death. The Necromorphs usually attack in groups and are well hidden in many different areas, including ventilation systems which makes players check around every corner before going round it. Although melee attacks do not have the same effect. They seem to be a last resort for players when they run out of ammo for all their guns, and do not do much damage towards the Necromorphs. There are also two utilities which will help players progress through the game, Kinesis, which gives you the ability to move objects and Stasis, which can be recharged through recharging points and booster packs, enables you to slow down fast moving objects, like malfunctioning doors and fast moving Necromorphs.
To assist Isaac with his adventure, there are stores scattered around the ship which enables players to purchase new weapons, med packs, extra ammo and suit upgrades using credits which are dropped by enemies throughout the game. The store also enables Isaac to store items which he is unable to hold in his inventory, inventory space is limited but increases with every upgrade to his suit.
You can also purchase power nodes which are used to upgrade weapons at various workbenches throughout the game, with each node used to link each branch of the circuit board. The nodes can not only upgrade weapons but also upgrade Kinesis and Stasis as well as the health bar.
Throughout the game, you will also encounter many areas which are deprived of gravity, and therefore enables Isaac to perform zero-gravity jumps to any surface. This can be used to strategically kill Necromorphs from different angles, but in turn can have the same effect vice-versa. But primarily zero-gravity is used to solve different problems, with the addition of the limited air supplies in certain areas outside of the ship, presents players with unique obstacles.
But what separates Dead Space from the other survival horror games is the environment which the game is set in. EA have done a great job in creating an atmosphere aboard the Ishimura which not only adds tension to the game but creates a sense of isolation with great visuals and sounds, causing players to constantly worry about where the next attack from the Necromorphs will come from and frantically pushing the shoot button. The engaging story and the lack of knowledge of events aboard Ishimura only adds to the tense atmosphere whilst you try to piece bits together through various audio and text logs left behind by crew members.
This increased fear factor makes the Dead Space experience a refreshing take on survival horror with recent releases like Resident Evil 4 and Alone in the Dark becoming more action focused and moving away from the horror aspect.With its immersive story and excellent visuals this makes Dead Space a must buy game for all gamers.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Collectors/limited edition games
Last week saw the announcement of the Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops. It comes with the game, a custom Black Ops limited edition medal, exclusive Black Ops Avatar outfit, four playable cooperative maps and a remote control surveillance car. The price you may ask? £129.99. I have to admit that i sometimes am a sucker to collectors edition and would be willing to spend some more money/or pick the collectors edition if the game came with decent extras for example, the limited edition of Tekken 6, which came with a hoody altogether for £70 and the Alan Wake collectors edition which came with book packaging and a bonus dvd which was for the same price as the standard edition. But spending more than £100 for a game and an extra which is no more than just gimmick? No thank you. I would rather spend less money on the standard edition of a game and not have to use up some space to store a gimmick item which does not benefit me at all in anyway. I do not mind if collectors editions come with extra in-game content, but if they come with extras like remote control cars which do not affect the in game experience then i believe that publishing companies are just trying to milk as much money as they can from big franchises like Call of Duty in order to maximise their revenue. Activision have already been down this path last year with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, releasing a £100 Prestige Edition which came bundled with a pair of night vision goggles and many other companies are following suit. Gran Turismo 5 is also being released with a "signature edition" which includes a model car, a leather wallet, USB key, metal key fob and two books for the price of £149.99. Although prices are extraordinarily high, many people will still buy it, but will I? Nope, ill be sticking to the standard editions.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
3DS
The 3DS has caused quite a stir among people in the video games industry, and i am personally looking forward to when it is released here in the UK. Nintendo announced that they will be announcing the release date and the price for the 3DS in late September. The price of the 3DS is a big talking point and there have been speculation that it will cost in excess of £150. The question is: will people be willing to pay that amount of money for a handheld console, which could ultimately go down the same path as the current DS with the lack of any great titles to attract the interest of the "hardcore" audience? In a recent episode of the Gamespot UK podcast (29/7/2010), one of the editors said that he was willing to pay £200 for it, calling it a "slice of magic". I personally would be willing to pay around £150 for the device. Yes, it is a revolutionary piece of hardware, and the 3D minus the glasses is a unique feature, and the titles which have been announced which include, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil Revelations, Starfox 64, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snaker Eater are A-grade titles, but £200 is the same amount for an Xbox 360 250GB console which provides HD gaming and online gaming with friends. The opinions of the Gamespot UK editor is based on the fact that he has been lucky enough to try the device whilst i have not been fortunate enough, i really do hope that i will be blown away by the Nintendo 3DS when i do eventually fork out the money for this "slice of magic".
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Fabregas.....
This is my first post and i will start with something which has been rumbling on for the whole of the summer: Cesc Fabregas wanting to go back to Barcelona. Before the World Cup, Fabregas met with Wenger and told him that he wanted to go back to Barcelona. While many Arsenal fans would accept that he would eventually go back to the club which he was from originally, many Arsenal fans are angry over the way Barcelona are going about trying to force this transfer to go through. Throughout the World Cup many of the Barcelona players in the Spain World Cup squad have been publically “tapping up” Fabregas by saying that he has his heart set on joining Barcelona and even going to the extend of forcing a Barcelona shirt on him when Spain were celebrating their World Cup victory. Yes, maybe they were totally wasted, but it was unnecessary and with all the publicity that this saga has had, it did not make things any better. Now Carles Puyol (Barcelona captain) comes out and says that “He is having to stay at a club where he no longer wants to be for another year…I wonder how intelligent it is keeping a player who doesn’t want to be there.” Im sorry but i did not know that Puyol had become a world class manager overnight. They have had a £29 million bid rejected and plus Fabregas has just signed a 5 year contract last year which means we (Arsenal) do not have to sell him. I respect Barcelona and the way that they play football, they play football the way it should be played, but the blatent tapping up of Fabregas has just made me and many football fans lose some respect for them.
Welcome....
Hi, this is the first of (hopefully) many blog posts by me. First off: Introduction,
For anyone who does not know. My name is Kevin Chan, I am an avid gamer, football fanatic and a history graduate from Queen Mary, University of London. The blog posts will mainly consist of my views on the football (soccer) and gaming worlds, although i may throw in occasional rants and other random assortment of fun. Football and video games are great passions of mine and have been a big part of my life for the past 15 (?!?!) years. My favourite football team is Arsenal and have been supporting them since i can remember. I hope you will enjoy the posts which i will be posting every so often and hope that you will in turn post your own opinion on them!
For anyone who does not know. My name is Kevin Chan, I am an avid gamer, football fanatic and a history graduate from Queen Mary, University of London. The blog posts will mainly consist of my views on the football (soccer) and gaming worlds, although i may throw in occasional rants and other random assortment of fun. Football and video games are great passions of mine and have been a big part of my life for the past 15 (?!?!) years. My favourite football team is Arsenal and have been supporting them since i can remember. I hope you will enjoy the posts which i will be posting every so often and hope that you will in turn post your own opinion on them!
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